Nucleo Ventures is a Cluj-Napoca, Romania-based early-stage venture fund launched in June 2026, operating as the rebranded successor to Fortech Ventures, the investment arm of Fortech, one of Romania's largest software development companies. The rebrand marks the fund's transition to full institutional independence, anchored by a new $37.5M fund developed in partnership with Romania's North-West Regional Development Agency. Through its predecessor vehicle, the team backed 18 tech startups with $6.6M invested, a reported 29% IRR, and a current portfolio fair value of $9.5M.
Nucleo backs early-stage teams combining corporate experience, engineering excellence, and deep market insight to build product-led companies disrupting traditional industries in Romania and CEE.
Core sectors include health (digital adoption, clinical workflow, diagnostics, and health data infrastructure), manufacturing (industrial software, factory optimization, visual CPQ, and Industry 4.0 workflows), energy (software for resilient and sustainable energy infrastructure), finance (core fintech, payments, and banking infrastructure), and defense (dual-use software, cyber-resilience, and secure infrastructure).
The fund targets companies with technical moats and clear commercial urgency, globally relevant businesses built from Romania and CEE.
Nucleo Ventures Fund I targets $37.5M and has been launched with a $25.9M cornerstone commitment from the North-West Regional Development Agency (ADR Nord-Vest), co-financed through the EU's Regional Program Nord-Vest 2021-2027. Additional private capital from the management team and private investors brings the total toward target.
The fund plans to back 46 startups over four years, primarily in Romania's North-West Region (Cluj, Bihor, Maramureș, Satu Mare, Bistrița-Năsăud, and Sălaj), with scope to attract founders from elsewhere in Romania and CEE using the region as a base.
A separate $1.9M grant facility supports pre-seed idea and technology validation.
Leadership
Valentin Filip is Managing Partner, who led investment activity through the predecessor Fortech Investments vehicle and continues in the same role at Nucleo Ventures.
Investment Strategy
Nucleo invests at pre-seed and seed stage, focusing on founders with domain expertise and technical depth emerging from corporate environments, engineering teams, and complex enterprise settings.
Post-investment support spans market validation, customer access, hiring, follow-on financing, and strategic exit preparation.
The firm uses proprietary AI-powered tools for deal screening (Venture Explorer), portfolio monitoring (Vestberry and CRM), and founder introductions (FounderConnect).
It is building a regional collaboration network with organizations including Rubik Hub, Make IT in Oradea, and LevelUP to support startup sourcing and acceleration across the region.
Romania
